Gum?

Chapter One

1986, Missouri

The air was cold in the city of St. Louis, enough to sting the tip of your nose, and freeze your fingertips if you weren't careful. Autumn never had a specific scent, yet somehow it was comfortably pungent. The early sun of the morning casted upon the skyline, peaking through the grey clouds. The only sounds happening at this time, were the adults heading down to their 9 to 5's, and tired teenagers huddling to the warmth of their high school, Coral Springs High. A school with good results and high expectations, yet there were always those few "bad apples" of the batch.

One of those bad apples were Thomas Healy, a Sophomore with shaggy long blonde hair, jeans he probably hadn't washed in a while, and acne that he blamed on hormones...though everybody knew it was because of his negligence for basic skin care. Every school has cliques, Toms clique were the average nerdy losers. They wore band shirts that hadn't been ironed, some of them had hairstyles that made them look like their grandmothers old china, they weren't aware of the existence of deodorant and they probably expected their mommas to still provide for them in 20 something years. Standard incel shit.

Tom sat on the curb behind the old shed of the school, the shed that the boys scared the girls with by making up all those cringe spooky stories. Next to him sat his best friend, Nicholas Davis, he was the same as Tom...only he was smaller and chubbier...and was somehow greasier.
"I'm telling you! This album is the greatest shit i've ever heard, it's nothing like anything Megadeth's ever made." Spoke Nicholas with his nasally voice, talking about the Peace Sells cassette that rested on his lap as he held out a cig packet for his friend.
"I believe you, man." Responded Tom, taking a cig and lighting it with his step dads "missing" lighter.
"You should come over and listen to it, my brother pocketed the cassette." He spoke "and watch out with that cig...shits expensive..." Nick mumbled, taking toms cig and having a hit himself.
"I'll have to ask my mom." Replied Tom, exhaling the smoke as he talked.
"ask your mom?" Nicholas was stunned, turning his head to Tom. "Why would you ask your mom?"
Tom sighed and took the cigarette, taking a while to respond as he exhaled. "She found it."
"Found what?" Nick was confused, his brows furrowed before the wheels finally turned in his pea sized brain. "Oh shit! the Porn-"
"Shut up man!" Tom quickly smacked a hand over Nicks mouth, looking around to see if anyone was listening in. He then removed his hand and sighed, taking the cig out his mouth and holding it between his fingers. "Yes...the magazine..." he confessed, looking down.
"dude...tragic..." Nicholas sympathised with him, he couldn't imagine life without his prized Terri Welles magazine. The school bell suddenly interrupted their train of thoughts.
"Shit." spoke tom, quickly flicking the half finished cig to the floor, stomping on it with his dirty disheveled white sneakers.
"Dude! That was like 10 cents!" Nick exclaimed, his cigarette shaped heart smashing as he saw the perfectly good cig die before his very own eyes.
"I'll give you the cheats for the maths test!" Tom argued as he got up, grabbing his back pack and making a run towards the school doors. Nicholas soon followed, eventually walking beside him as they managed to get inside.

The halls were dead silent, classroom doors all closed shut. However, Toms head turned as he heard the jangling of keys and the click clacking of ugly church heels.
"Boys." That voice was hoarse enough to grind down their eardrums. The boys turned, their eyes soaking up the sight of the droopy wart covered skin, the sloppy red lipstick and those awful nicotine stained teeth.
"It's 8:05." The woman spoke, her hands on her hips, the coffee breath practically whiplashing the two of them.
"We're sorry, Mrs Grundy..." spoke Nicholas, looking up at the inevitable fate of their actions.
"This is the third time this month...and it's the 16th." Mrs Grundy was, as always, unamused, pushing up her glasses that fell down her nose bridge.
Tom sighed, but he quickly caught it before looking up at the woman. That was a bad move.
Her face got red, her eyes practically bulged out her sockets. She looked like those mexican bulls he had once seen on TV.
"GET OUT AND YOU BOTH EARNED YOUR SPOT IN DETENTION AFTER SCCHOOL!" she yelled out, the wind from her lungs so strong, Tom swore that he felt his bangs brush back. They stood in fear before they scrambled to their classes, officially splitting them up until lunch.